Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Life, literature, and a voice for the female child
Third suggestion: Teach her that the idea of “gender roles” is absolute nonsense. Do not ever tell her that she should or should not do something because she is a girl. “Because you are a girl” is never a reason for anything. Ever.
Circa 2009, I read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Purple Hibiscus” for the first time. As someone who fell in love with books as early as age five and had a library of her own at age ten, I was pleasantly surprised to have discovered another African author — a Nigerian author in particular — whose stories were phenomenal and easy to understand. Over the years, Chimamanda has fashioned several characters portraying Nigerian people who have experienced varying themes such as love, war, physical abuse, intimate partner violence, gender inequalities, family, politics, religion, racism, and freedom, amongst others.
One of Chimamanda’s books I love is Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. Originally written as a personal letter to a friend and turned into a book, I think of this book as a love letter to parents and young girls everywhere. Chimamanda shared fifteen suggestions parents could try to implement if they want to raise girls (and children in general) using feminist values, and I shared one of the suggestions at the beginning of this writing.
Chimamanda gave suggestions such as, but not limited to, raising the girl child to not conform to gender roles and to question cultural and societal expectations, to love books and reading, to question language, to reject likeability and not see marriage as an achievement; have a sense of identity and be deliberate about engagements and appearance, and receive comprehensive sexuality education.
A sense of identity gives one a sense of worth.
How do all of these contribute to raising a child as a feminist, you might think? How do they contribute to achieving a gender-equal world for girls? The core of gender equality envisions a society where everyone, including girls, has equal access to rights, opportunities, resources, rewards, and decision-making processes, irrespective of gender. Achieving a gender-equal society is of the utmost importance, particularly for women and girls. We live in a society with indwelling systems structured to oppress, suppress, and dominate women and girls. We are in a community with unequal power structures devalue women and girls and reinforce norms, privileges, laws, and oppressive practices that strengthen inequalities.
Gender inequalities and the unequal power relationships it carries form the roots of gender norms that assert that cooking and sweeping are female chores; that girls are unfit for leadership and can only occupy positions like Assistant Class Captain, Secretary, and Vice President; that girls can never aspire to become President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that girls are gossiping when they talk, but boys are just chatting; and that it is a privilege when boys allow girls to do things like wiping the chalkboard in school. It makes it okay for society to make excuses for men and boys who sexually violate women and girls and blame it on how females are dressed, where they go to, how they speak when they go out/stay home, who they talk to, who they are friends with, or even blame the oldest culprit the world has ever known — the devil.
A sense of identity gives one a sense of worth. It can translate to speaking up and fighting for rights when they are violated, refusing to be taken advantage of, and challenging the societal structures designed to oppress women and girls. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s suggestions for intentional feminist parenting speak to challenging gender inequalities at an individual level. Raising the female child to see gender roles as absolute nonsense, for instance, can preclude her from growing to conform to the ridiculous roles and expectations society expects from women. Having a sense of identity as a child ensures she doesn’t grow up to seek validation and identify from social constructs like marriage; and lose identity, self-esteem and awareness of an abusive partner.
One crucial Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is the achievement of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls by 2030. One of the ways to achieve this goal is to eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in public and private spheres. A crucial step in preventing and responding to sexual and gender-based violence is giving the female child comprehensive sexuality education, of which Chimamanda is an ardent supporter. In one of her speeches as the FNF Africa Freedom Prize Winner 2020, Chimamanda spoke about the importance of teaching girls about their bodies, as well as teaching them the appropriate language to talk about their bodies, whilst removing the shame attached to the female body.
Chimamanda shared a scenario in her speech highlighting the importance of language and education about the female body. “Imagine this scenario: A little girl — innocent, helpless — is being sexually abused by her uncle. She’s scared and confused…. How would this little child talk about it [sexual abuse] when she doesn’t even have the language? What would she say? How would she say it? We should give girls the language to be able to talk about their bodies, and most importantly, we must strip that language of shame”. Her advocacy for the female child is straightforward: Empower the girl child with the information and skills to protect and speak up for themselves. We are one step closer to achieving a gender-equal world.
What better way to conclude a piece about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie than to talk about her achievements? Chimamanda has written several novels, plays, and anthologies including, but not limited to, Half of a Yellow Sun; Americanah; We Should All be Feminists; Zikora; Notes on Grief; The Thing Around Your Neck; Decisions; and For Love of Biafra. Chimamanda has also received awards and recognitions, including the 2005 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book; the 2007 PEN Beyond Magic Award; the 2013 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize in the Fiction Category; a recognition by TIME Magazine as one of 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2015; and a recognition by Fortune Magazine as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders in 2017. Chimamanda is a testament to the fact that we can break out of the mould society expects us to fit and still thrive, the accompanying challenges notwithstanding. We can stand for what is right and still thrive. We can demand and affirm our rights and still thrive. We can be ourselves, our true selves, and still thrive.
Dear African girl, thrive.
Originally published by Roseline Adewuyi in her International Day of the Girl Child 2022 Magazine.
